Epoch Time: "U.S. corporate executives navigating the Chinese market, they effectively become “hostages” to the whims of the Chinese regime"

 The Epoch Time reported:

During Hong Kong protests in 2019, for example, Apple pulled from its app store a map application widely used by pro-democracy protestors that showed the location of police patrols and tear gas deployments, citing security reasons. The move was made after Chinese state media piled pressure calling for the app’s removal. Google also sparked controversy when it removed a Hong Kong protest role-playing game from its app store.

These are by no means the only apparently self-censorship incidents by U.S tech companies. Apple, for example, removed nearly 55,000 active apps from its app store in China since 2017, according to a New York Times report. They include apps made by minorities oppressed by the regime, including Uyghurs and Tibetans.

Over the years, the list of entities that have caved to Beijing’s censorship demands has grown long. The Gap, Disney, Delta Airlines, Medtronic, Marriott, the NBA, and many others have all bowed to the Chinese regime over issues ranging from Taiwan to Uyghurs to Hong Kong.

Such actions by U.S. firms, though, have drawn criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who accuse companies of sacrificing American values for the allure of profits in the world’s second-largest economy.

For the CEO of Apple Tim Cook and other U.S. corporate executives navigating the Chinese market, they effectively become “hostages” to the whims of the Chinese regime.

“They may be perceived as the heads of American companies, but they fear Beijing far more than they fear Washington,” Prestowitz writes in his book. [https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/us-companies-are-hostages-to-china_4137114.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-12-05&mktids=8663244d74b82dbd411acfdb27751707&est=wczRJoH1qmQ2FGhZjcydS7TqsP8t2ebatZ4Vff22SijHh6FooRDrRDUFOhJQ]